Oh my god that sounds so awful!!! I can't even imagine doing all that work and not getting anything for it! I wonder if she maybe invited into the bridal party as some kind of form of bartering. Like, you're in my party so you HAVE to do these things. Cause My friend got married and I made the ring pillow and flower basket and did a bunch of other small things because thats like the job of a braidsmaid/maid of honor. So I wonder if she added on more and more stuff once you were in the party? It's so weird that she specifically brought up that you were hired, meaning being paid for this, and then didn't pay you! What a B! Do you ever talk to her anymore?

Yeah I wonder if that was her plan too, like at first I was all "oh i can help you look for ideas, and i know some websites where you can get cheap supplies and stuff" and then the only reason i agreed to do more than that was cuz she ssaid she was gonna pay me (although according to her she was joking and i should have known that), but it was funny cuz the maid of honor and the other brides maids wanted to help with stuff and she wouldnt let them and told them i was doing everything, i even found out the maid of honor gave her money to give me cuz i did a bunch of alterations on her dress and i never saw that money either. But what ended up happening was I gave her the bill a week before the wedding and she flipped out and came to my house when she knew i wasn't there and my mom let her in and showed her where i had all the stuff i was making (cuz she didn't know any better) and so she took it all so i couldnt hold it hostage for the money. and then we didn't talk but my sister who was also in the wedding siad i was still supposed to be in the wedding so i went and pretended to be nice and everything and did a ton of work at the wedding and then i pretty much haven't talked to her sense. she went and had all her friends basicly cyber bully me on facebook for a while about the whole thing and then she was like stalking me too i'd get crazy texts from her like "i saw your car at the doctor's office why didn't you wait and talk to me i'm trying to be reasonable but you're acting rediculous" so i just blocked her number and like 6 months after the wedding she gave my mom a $200 check to give me and i was thinking of doing a fake nice thing but i figured fuck it i dont need her she was a horrible friend and jokes on her cuz now she's got my face in all her wedding pictures.

You should never start a project for someone without discussing their budget and agreeing on a price and schedule of payment. You say she doesn't seem to care about the price, but her idea of uncaring may be limited to $75 - how do you know? Now you're going to have a hard-feelings thing if the price you think you deserve isn't paid. It's fine and well to say you don't like talking about money, but you also have another responsibility to your customer - they are counting on you now to deliver something they really want by a certain time. If your price is too high (and really, what do they know about how much time/materials cost?), they are not just disappointed, but are also angry and put upon to make other plans. It's not just you who can get burned.

You should never start a project for someone without discussing their budget and agreeing on a price and schedule of payment. You say she doesn't seem to care about the price, but her idea of uncaring may be limited to $75 - how do you know? Now you're going to have a hard-feelings thing if the price you think you deserve isn't paid. It's fine and well to say you don't like talking about money, but you also have another responsibility to your customer - they are counting on you now to deliver something they really want by a certain time. If your price is too high (and really, what do they know about how much time/materials cost?), they are not just disappointed, but are also angry and put upon to make other plans. It's not just you who can get burned.

You're right, those are some good points. I'll definitely be sure to set a price before hand next time I'm hired for something like this, especially now that I know I can do this. Since she works at disney she had offered me a pass, i wasn't sure if it was in addition to paying me or instead of paying me, but I already have a pass so I said no. My birthday is coming up though so I was thinking if 300 is too much for her, maybe she could give me what she and I think is reasonable, and also get me a pass for a friend to come to disneyland with me. So maybe she's only able to give me 150 or so and also a disneyland pass which itself is a few hundred. I think that'd be fair. Next time I am for sure setting prices first. I've learned my lesson.

This is an awesome dress. I think you've got some very sound advice, especially from CraftyChef. I hope that everything works out for you and you get what the dress is worth. (I think $250 is VERY reasonable.)

I made a hand-made dress to a wedding this weekend and somebody said, "Wow! You made that! I would totally pay you $50 for that." Fifty dollars Come on. Many people don't realize how much effort does into making something.

If she can't afford to compensate you properly, perhaps you can rent her the dress for this Halloween then you can attempt to sell it online or keep it yourself.

This is an awesome dress. I think you've got some very sound advice, especially from CraftyChef. I hope that everything works out for you and you get what the dress is worth. (I think $250 is VERY reasonable.)

I made a hand-made dress to a wedding this weekend and somebody said, "Wow! You made that! I would totally pay you $50 for that." Fifty dollars Come on. Many people don't realize how much effort does into making something.

If she can't afford to compensate you properly, perhaps you can rent her the dress for this Halloween then you can attempt to sell it online or keep it yourself.

ugh, the fabric alone probably cost almost $50, i dont get people sometimes. i like your idea for the halloween rental of the dress though.

jillrbassett- if she is going to give you a pass to disney as part of the payment, make sure that its a year pass like you were thinking and not just a day pass. disney may have changed their employee policies in the past few years, but the last time i knew someone that worked at disneyland, they could sign people in for the day for free but if they were getting a year pass for someone they still had to pay full price or maybe a slight discount.

I just wanted to wish you luck with your negotiations - I know your situation well, it is so difficult to set a price on ones craftwork/artwork. I can't give you any advice on the price, coming from another country, but I think it is a good idea to look at similar dresses on etsy.

This is an awesome dress. I think you've got some very sound advice, especially from CraftyChef. I hope that everything works out for you and you get what the dress is worth. (I think $250 is VERY reasonable.)

I made a hand-made dress to a wedding this weekend and somebody said, "Wow! You made that! I would totally pay you $50 for that." Fifty dollars Come on. Many people don't realize how much effort does into making something.

If she can't afford to compensate you properly, perhaps you can rent her the dress for this Halloween then you can attempt to sell it online or keep it yourself.

50?! That's ridiculous. People are always impressed when they find out you've made something but they never think about how it's made and how long it takes.

Also, I never even thought of renting!! That's a great idea. Because I feel like I would like to put this on etsy, i could probably get more what it's worth on etsy than from her, and she'd probably never wear it more than once. That would be amazing! I'll have to see if she would go for that. Thank you so much for that suggestion!!

Any tips on how much to charge for renting and how to go about it?

Ivoryh- I didn't even think about the day pass thing. But now that I do, another friend of mine worked for them last year, i know he could get a certain number of people in free for the day, but he never told me about year passes. A year pass would be better compensation but I would really only need the day pass I guess. I'll see what she can do, or if she would just want to rent.

If I were renting it, I'd probably charge about $75. Depending on how well you know the girl you're making this dress for, you might want to get a credit card number or a photocopy of her ID or something... that way she doesn't run off with your dress. Make sure you get her to sign a simple contract that says the date she has to return it by, and that she's responsible for any damages to the dress. (That is, if its something you can repair, she has to pay you for the hours it will take to repair it, and if the dress is damaged beyond repair then she's obligated to buy it for a set price.)

*** and later***Not sure if you meant "how to go about it" like how to bring up the subject of rental with her. So, if that's what you meant, I would say something like:I've really enjoyed creating this dress, and I've put countless hours into really making sure it is a quality item. As a result of my time and cost of materials, the price to buy this dress is going to be $xxx. I understand this might be more costly that you were expecting. Since we didn't really discuss a budget ahead of time, and I would still love for you to wear the dress this Halloween, I can offer it to you on a rental-basis for a $xx. Let me know whether a purchase or a rental works better for your budget.